UMNO’S attempt to ridicule and paint a bad image of Pakatan Harapan and DAP leaders have “a small” impact, well-known political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque said.

The self-taught artist better known as Zunar said cartoons would only have impact if they touched on issues affecting the people.

“They don’t care how Lim Guan Eng looks in a cartoon, or how he is being bashed. What is important is the cartoon must be for the people, focusing on people issues.

“That is why Umno is only showing those cartoons to its own members. They don’t dare to show it to the public,” he told a press conference in the Penang chief minister’s office today at Komtar.

Guan Eng, who is also DAP secretary-general and PH deputy president, is one of many PH leaders under attack by Umno, which is having its 71st general assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre.

The Umno information bureau has put up an exhibition featuring 20 anti-DAP images and other caricatures mocking top PH leaders like chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad, president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, deputy presidents Mohamed Sabu, and DAP parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang. 

Some images painted DAP as anti-Islam

Zunar said cartoonists should have ethics to refrain from content that could stir racial and religious tensions.

“Even in Europe where artists enjoy more openness and freedom, racial cartoons are not allowed,” he said, citing attempts to ban the famous comic Tintin in the Congo because it contained racial prejudice.

Zunar also questioned why Umno was given the freedom to hold an exhibition of caricatures and doctored photos of PH leaders, while he had faced the law and the police many times for doing the same thing.

He said PKR leaders Tian Chua and R. Sivarasa also got into trouble with the law over doctored photos.

In 2007, Chua was hauled up by the police over a doctored photo of Prime Minister Najib Razak having dinner with political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda and murdered Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Last year, Sivarasa was charged in court for sharing a fake TIME magazine cover via Facebook. The fake cover featured Najib’s picture and the words “No. 2 on the most corrupt list”.

“I want to ask why when others do the same thing, they get arrested,” Zunar said.

Zunar, whose cartoons focused on national issues such as the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal and were critical of the ruling Barisan Nasional government, including Najib Razak, was arrested five times.

He has had six laws used against him, such as the Sedition Act which he faced nine pending charges, the Penal Code, the Printing Presses and Publications Act, and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act. He is also banned from traveling overseas.

“Why do we have these double standards? Are there two separate laws? One for Umno and one for other people?” he said.

Zunar also defended artistes and their freedom to express their views on people issues after popular singer Sheila Majib came under fire from Umno supporters for tweeting about the rising cost of living.

He said it was wrong to simply label the artistes as pro-opposition because their views highlighted problems faced in the country.

“They are just speaking up for the people. Every citizen has right to voice their views, and artistes also have a duty to voice out for the people,” he said.

Sheila, who has 214,000 followers on Twitter, yesterday tweeted: “Food is expensive, ringgit is weak, cost of living is high and jobs are scarce. Malaysians are becoming tired and angry for being squeezed over debts we did not create.

“Stop making excuses and looking for faults. Focus on the job of getting our country back on track! Disappointing.”

Her tweet attracted a reminder from Najib’s aide Rizal Mansor who said artistes should not become the opposition’s tool.

Zunar said he hoped artistes who had spoken up like Sheila, Fathia Latiff, Aznil Nawawi and Siti Nurhaliza would not be penalised or blacklisted. – December 6, 2017.